Do you feel overwhelmed? You are doing things wrongly!

Last week I was in UK. The weather was wonderful and sunny, destroying all the stereotypes about the British weather, which I mention from time to time to my British friends. However, instead of enjoying the time, I was working from morning until the evening. Have you ever had the feeling of being overwhelmed?

That exact week was one very good example.

And it wasn’t the fact that there were lots of activities I had planned during the week, the fact of the matter is that is the way my life works and I am very happy with it, however the week before I was designing training sessions for the management team of organization I delivered the training to during the weekend.

I enjoyed those activities a lot, however; I knew I would like to have two days of rest and do nothing and I knew that Instead of rest, on Monday, my plan was to deliver two presentations to senior leaders in my organization and the rest of the week I was in UK supporting activities with the Customer.

In the below article, I will share four ideas about how you can handle the feeling of being overwhelmed.

Priorities activities!

Imagine you had already committed to many things which are achievable. On top of that life is not only about us, it’s about our relationship with other people as well. When we receive requests from colleagues, boss or our friends we must priorities those activities and made the most out of our time. One way to priorities is by following the approach I wrote in this article: How to be on top of your project!

Overcoming feeling of FOMO!

The phenomenon was first identified in 1996 by Dr. Dan Herman and shows our tendency to worry that there is something interesting going on and we won’t be part of it.

Life is diverse, dynamic and vibrant there is always something happening somewhere. We will always miss out on interesting activities. And imagine that you are thinking should I go to this event, party or gathering or not.

You will waste way too much time in debating with yourself instead of just deciding on what to do and go with your decision. You can always change your decision later on, or if the party was a huge success, you can plan to go to another party.

Combine activities!

What a better way to meet old friends and to do something new by inviting them to that activity. I had done ceramic painting, just because I was interested in trying it, and I had invited a friend of mine to join me. We had lots of fun and we catch up on what’s going on with our life and we both experience something new.

Do you have activities that you always wanted to do and never had the time? And do you have friends you never had the time to meet?

Try to combine both activities and you will check 2 boxes with one attempt.

Set a time for self-care

I shared about my busy two week’s schedule, well for this weekend I planned time to do fewer things to balance my life. You can do the same, especially when feelings of overwhelm start to appear.

Having a time for yourself is crucial to keep you motivated, happy and healthy. This doesn’t mean that time has to be only for yourself and spend it by yourself. I had organized a brunch with many friends on Saturday and had to spend a lovely breakfast with a friend on Sunday.

Whatever works for you, plan it and do it regularly. And if you feel that you don’t have the time for it, go back to point 1 and prioritize your time.

Summary

Life is dynamic and demanding. There are a lot of things we want to do and we can easily fall into the feeling of overwhelm trap.

Being overwhelm usually paralyze us on enjoying the beauty of the world and life.

To escape this feeling, we must prioritize our activities. Don’t be afraid to say no and even accept the fact that we won’t be able to be everywhere all the time, this is actually an impossible goal. And the last and the most important thing is to set aside time for self-care.

That is how we will escape the trapped of wish we could and start living the life we all deserve to!